Johnny Kerr - Broadcasting Career

Broadcasting Career

Despite resigning as coach, Kerr stayed with the Suns franchise for the remainder of the 1969-1970 season, working as a broadcaster with Hot Rod Hundley. He spent the next two seasons as a business manager with the ABA’s Virginia Squires, then returned to the Chicago Bulls to work in their front office. In 1975, the Bulls' play-by-play announcer, Jim Durham, suggested that Kerr provide commentary during games, and Kerr remained as a color commentator until the end of the 2007–08 season.

As a broadcaster, Kerr oversaw the Bulls' six championships in the 1990s and Michael Jordan's entire career with the team. Over the years, Kerr and Jordan developed a pre-game ritual in which Jordan would head to the broadcasting area and playfully clap talcum powder in front of Kerr. Jordan later said, "I don’t know how it started. I think he had a nice suit on and I wanted to mess him up a little."

Kerr made occasional appearances as a halftime commentator during the first half of the 2008–09 season, but struggles with prostate cancer gradually limited his involvement. The Bulls honored Kerr for his years of service at a February 10, 2009 halftime ceremony, where the team unveiled a sculpture of Kerr that would stand in the United Center. At the ceremony, Kerr also received the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by Jerry Colangelo. February 10, 2009 was declared Johnny Red Kerr Appreciation Day in the city of Chicago by Mayor Richard M. Daley.

Kerr died of prostate cancer on February 26, 2009 just hours after the death of fellow Bulls legend Norm Van Lier.